On a recent kayak trip down a narrow winding river, a beaver and I passed closely by, I was on a leisurely paddle and it was on a mission. I think leisure is a foreign concept to this creature. Thus the adage: Busy as a beaver.

We as humans seem to have developed a love/hate relationship with this industrious large rodent. It is very much like us in the fact that it is skillful at manipulating its environment to suit its own needs. The Native Americans thought the similarity was so great that they named the beaver "the little people." Food and security are what it works long hours to achieve.

Being vegetarians, beaver (Castor canadensis) prefer a large flat area where there are plenty of desirable woody plants that when flooded would be readily available by water. This reduces their exposure to predators. They are incredible engineers usually preferring to build a dam where there is already a constriction in the flow of water such as a narrowing of a stream or a culvert. This gets the maximum effect for the least amount of effort.

Their lodges are built either free standing if the pond is large enough or built into the side of a bank. These have at least two underwater entrances, a ventilated roof and mud insulated walls. All very cozy even in the deepest of winter and all very secure.

These large brown bulldozers (some reaching 100 pounds) are built to work. Their large webbed hind feet paddle them effortlessly through the water, the small front feet are very nimble. The chisel-like incisors continue to grow and self sharpen through out the beaver's life. Their pelts have short hairs for warmth and long silky hairs for waterproofing, a coat so fine and desirable that they were almost hunted to extinction because of it.

Although a bit near-sighted, this is made up for by having a highly developed sense of hearing and smell. They warn other beaver of danger by slapping their wide flat tail on the surface of the water and diving. This tail is also used as a rudder when swimming, to support them when standing and to store fat for use in the winter. Contrary to popular belief though, they do not use their tail to carry mud or slap it in place.

Beaver have a close knit family structure. Adult pairs mate for life and offspring stay with the family for two years, helping to raise the current year's kits. A colony usually contains six or seven beaver. After two years, the young beaver leave to establish their own colony. This is quite difficult at times. Non-family beaver are not tolerated at another beaver's pond and the travel over land and across roads is very dangerous.

Our contention with these wonderful creatures comes about when their manipulation of the natural environment starts to conflict with our own manipulation of the environment. Flooded backyards, blocked culverts, flooded roads, eroded banks, costly and continuous repairs results. Thus the struggle continues. But beaver ponds support a vast array of other species and are critical habitat for almost half our endangered species. So it is in best interest of both us and our "little people" neighbors to find solutions around this dilemma.